Seduced by a Rogue by Amanda Scott Read Free Book Online Page B

’tis what me da called me own granddame sometimes. Means he liked her, he said. I like Herself gey fine, too, mostly.”
    His sense of humor tickled by the boy’s earnest candor, Rob bent nearer and said confidingly, “So do I, lad, mostly. But don’t
     let me hear you call her an old trout again unless you want to stir
my
temper to the point where you
will
mind it.”
    “Nay, I won’t, then. But ye’d best get a move on ye, sir. She’s looking a bit umbrageous already, t’ my way o’ thinking.”
    “So she is,” Rob agreed, pressing a coin into the lad’s willing hand before striding to the dais and across it with a nod
     of greeting to his sister-in-law.
    His grandmother, tall and stately in lavender silk with a surcoat of figured purple damask and a lavender veil, stepped back
     into the solar.
    Following her, Rob noted the presence of his youngest nephew, five-year-old Sawny Maxwell, playing alone with a toy in the
     east-facing window corner. The little boy, seeing him, leaped to his feet and ran to him, shrieking his delight.
    Catching him at the waist, Rob tossed him high in the air and caught him, still shrieking.
    A white, long-haired cat curled on the settle in the window embrasure had sat bolt upright at the first shriek, with a narrow-eyed
     scowl at the child. Now it vanished into darkness under the settle.
    “Hush now, Sawny lad,” Rob said as he raised the boy overhead again. “You’ve frightened our lady granddame’s cat.”
    “Nay, Cheetie’s no frightened,” the boy said, grinning down at him. She hides ’cause she dinna want to nurse her kits anymore,
     Granddame said. Do it again!”
    Rob obliged, catching the delighted boy with ease.
    From behind him, his sister-in-law said, “Prithee, don’t throw him so high, Robert. Think how horrid it would be if you dropped
     him.”
    “Uncle Rob willna drop me, Mam,” Sawny said with a grimace of disappointment as Rob stood him on his feet. “He’s gey strong.”
    “He’s right, Cassia, I won’t,” Rob said, turning to her.
    “You cannot be sure of that,” the lady Cassandra said, glancing back through the open doorway. “Moreover, Alexander does not
     like him to get overly excited.”
    “Alexander can—”
    “Robbie,” Lady Kelso said, mildly warning.
    Obligingly biting back his opinion of Alex, Rob ruffled Sawny’s dark curls. “Do you dine in the hall with the grown-ups today,
     lad?” he asked the boy.
    Noting Cassandra’s widening eyes, he was sure that had not been the plan.
    But Lady Kelso said, “That is just what Cassia had decided, is it not, my dear?” Before Cassandra could deny it, had she dared,
     her ladyship added, “Why do you not take him out to the table and get him settled now, dearling. His father will be along
     soon, and I want a private word with Robert before we eat.”
    “Of course, my lady,” Cassandra said. “Come, Sawny.”
    Eyes alight, the child hugged Rob and went with his lady mother.
    “That was neatly done, madam,” Rob said to Lady Kelso as the door shut behind the other two.
    “It was hardly a masterstroke,” she said. “Cassia is far too meek to gainsay me. She is a kind and pleasant companion, but
     I’d like to see more spirit. Such meekness in a wife is not good for Alexander, or indeed, for any Maxwell. Abject submissiveness
     in a wife encourages strong men to think they can rule the world.”
    “My wife, if ever I take one, had better not be
too
spirited,” Rob said, remembering some fierce quarrels between his outspoken grandmother and the late Lord Kelso. He disliked
     such battles. Memory suddenly stirred of Lady Mairi Dunwythie’s serene gray eyes.
    The image evaporated when his grandmother said sharply, “Just what happened between you and your brother this time, my dear?”
    “Nowt,” Rob said shortly. Meeting her disbelieving gaze, he said, “Nowt but what always happens. He sent me on a fool’s mission,
     and I failed to accomplish it. Rather than hear